


Stars Shining Bright Above You

by painted_lady12



Series: Our Hearts Beat as One [6]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Being Lost, Boys Kissing, Established Relationship, Everyone Is Alive, Fluff, Kid Fic, Light Angst, M/M, Minor Violence, Missions Gone Wrong, Parental Krolia (Voltron), Protective Keith (Voltron), soft klance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:47:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25452628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/painted_lady12/pseuds/painted_lady12
Summary: When Keith and Lance accidentally fly through a quintessence dead zone on a mission, they get separated and have to complete it on foot.  Antics ensue, including space pirates, magic babies, and BAMF Keith.***“What should we name them?!” Lance said in motherese, voice lilting and teasing.Blushing down to the roots of his hair, Keith muttered, “I just named them Squishy for now.”“Squishy,” Lance deadpanned, taking in Keith’s adorably red face with amusement.  “You named the child Squishy?”“What would you name a random child you found surrounded by dead bodies with light up crystals on their head!?”Resisting the urge to give Keith a break, Lance muttered, “I don’t know, Lance?”“I’m not naming a random baby after you, Lance.”***This can be read independent of the rest of the series!  However, I highly recommend the other fics.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: Our Hearts Beat as One [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1047074
Comments: 12
Kudos: 148





	Stars Shining Bright Above You

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy, my loves<3 The first fic in the series without smut was somehow the most enjoyable to write? Go figure?

The day started shitty, and only got worse.

“This is ridiculously unclear. It says to pick up the package and keep it out of enemy hands at all costs. But who is the enemy? And what is the package!?” Hunk’s voice was clearly annoyed as he read through the instructions again. 

“Stay alert on the map, Hunk. We need you to direct from the command center,” Keith reminded him, steering the black lion over the body of water they needed to cross. “Whatever it is, they said that keeping it from the enemy was paramount to keeping the peace.”

Allura huffed from next to Hunk, her royal breathing always distinguishable. “I don’t like cryptic messages. Maybe I’ll go have a chat with the diplomat?”

“I agree,” Lance chimed in from the red lion next to him, and Keith pinched his brow, but nodded. 

“Okay, hold on…”

Just as Keith opened up the channel to talk with the diplomat, everything imploded.

No, not imploded. Everything stopped. Alarms blared and then were cut silent. Lights flashed and then died. Keith felt the momentum of falling from the sky like a stone.

He screamed for Lance. He tried to pulse quintessence energy into the lion to re-awaken it. He tried everything he knew, until finally he knew that he couldn’t be in this lion when it hit the ground.

So, with a prayer sent up to the White Lion, he ejected himself.

  
  


***

  
  


He woke up in a shallow pool on the edge of the body of water. Keith gasped and sat up, immediately groaning at the sudden movement. 

“Fuck.”

He did a quick assessment of his injuries. He had injured his knee, but not enough to cripple him. It twinged as he stood. His breathing was painful, so he probably bruised a rib. All things considered, he was in pretty good shape. He could walk, run, and climb. 

His communicator, however, was completely dead.

Pidge’s lectures on quintessence dead zones came back to him.

_ When we created a machine to suck the quintessence from the known universe in order to save it, it created pockets of dead zones. These areas have no quintessence and can never have that energy there again. Any machine that runs on it will immediately die. Make sure you run a sweep every few doboshes so that you don’t fly into one. _

“Great!” Keith yelled. Why doesn’t he listen to Pidge’s rants? He can hear her lecture later as well, when he gets back to the castle. 

_ I told you not to fly like that! You’re such an idiot. Even children know to follow instructions. Did you skip first grade or something? _

Yes, he did, but that wasn’t the point.

The point was that the rest of the team was at the castle, a few quintants away. Somewhere, Lance’s lion had landed, and hopefully he had ejected in time. Keith’s stomach flipped. What if he didn’t eject in time?

No, Keith pressed his hand to the pulsing crystal nestled at the base of his throat. Lance’s heart was beating. It was quick, but it was there. His own slowed down at the recognition that wherever Lance was, he was alive. 

Using his own navigation prowess, he was able to identify the direction he had been flying. He was maybe two quintants away by walking from the point that the package was said to be at. It might take time, but he could easily walk to the package, retrieve it, and get back to the capital city.

The more he thought about it, the better it sounded in his head.

Yeah, he could complete this mission, no sweat.

This is how Keith straightened up and started off towards his target.

  
  


***

  
  


After four quintants of trudging through the tropical rainforest, Keith slumped in relief when he saw the cabin that was supposed to be the pick-up point. A rebel had secured the package from a trade deal with intergalactic pirates, and would be waiting to hand the package off.

Keith approached the cabin, feeling every muscle in his body groan and stretch uncomfortably. When he reached the front door and knocked, however, it swung open and dangled off its hinges.

Inside was a bloodbath. Two of the local population, called Igni, were bleeding out on the floor. They were dressed in royal robes, clearly sent on the mission into enemy territory. One of them reached towards Keith, and then their arm fell to the ground, dead. 

A hulking, lizard-like pirate turned around on Keith, arm bleeding green from a gash. He growled possessively, standing over the bodies and blocking off Keith’s view of the rest of the cabin.

“Get lost, traveler,” the pirate warned, but Keith quickly managed to unsheath his Blade’s knife and jam it into the pirate’s throat.

Surprise was replaced by slack emptiness as they slumped to the floor, dead.

Feeling a little ill, Keith picked over the three dead bodies and cracked one of his emergency glow sticks, shining it around the inside of the cabin curiously. He was hoping the package would be obvious, like perhaps with a bright red sticker saying  _ ILLEGAL _ or  _ DANGER _ , but instead what he saw was much more alarming.

There was a mass of green blankets moving on the desk in the room. Keith figured a small animal might have gotten in, and he approached and pulled the woven fabric back, expecting to shoo something.

Instead, he looked down at a baby.

It wasn’t a human baby, or a Galra baby. It was at least partially Igni, with its colorless hair, but there were jewels beset into the crown of their head that was different than every other Igni he’d met. 

“Who are you?”

Blinking up at him, the baby hiccuped but didn’t answer.

What… should he do about it? Struggling to decide what to do, he poked the baby’s belly on instinct.

The baby giggled, a sound that was so pure and beautiful that Keith’s thoughts seemed to white out, completely enraptured by the sound.

“You’re a squishy little one, aren’t you? I’ll call you Squishy for now,” Keith decided, somehow feeling certain about this one thing. Gently, he scooped the baby up, extremely careful of the head. Keith didn’t hold babies often, but he had held some of Lance’s nephews. He wasn’t completely useless.

The second that Keith brought the baby to his chest, the crystals on its head lit up blue.

“Does that mean you’re happy?” Keith asked, cracking a smile. He automatically started to sway and rock, “Are you happy, Squishy?”

The baby gurgled in response.

Keith knew very little about Igni. He knew that they were gender neutral, and that it took two parents to donate genetic material to form a new life. It was some sort of ceremony, but he’d ignored that part of the orientation packet.

“Let’s try to find the package, yeah?”

Carefully shielding the baby’s eyes from seeing the dead bodies, Keith did a quick sweep of the room. It looked like an ordinary safe room, and there was nothing else out of place.

“Did the pirate have help? Maybe they took it,” Keith muttered, frustrated, but still talking to the baby. “I should go regroup with the others, if they have a ship there’s no way I can track them on foot.”

The baby tilted their head in agreement.

“I can’t just leave you here,” Keith muttered, feeling a jolt of panic. Where were the parents? Were the agents the parents? Was this kid an orphan now?

Also, Keith inspected the child’s head again. The crystals glowed earlier, didn’t they? That wasn’t normal for Igni, or at least the Igni he met. Most of them had no crystals, or very small, barely the size of freckles crystals. This Igni’s crystals were like decadent diamonds in the setting of their forehead. It looked like a natural circlet crown.

“I guess we’re stuck together, then,” Keith reasoned, toeing the dead bodies with his foot. “Let’s go regroup with the others, and see if we can find Lance.”

  
  


***

  
  


The sun was setting by time Keith realized that he had no idea where he was going.

He had marked trees as he’d gone, but comparatively that didn’t show him the direction of the capital. 

When he lapped around onto a group of trees with fresh x marks, Keith groaned, switching the arm he was carrying the baby in. “I’m lost.”

The baby blew a raspberry in agreement.

“What do I do now?” He muttered, but he knew what he needed to do, but he didn’t want to do it.

Keith knows the protocol is to find the tallest tree and map out the four cardinal directions. The tallest tree stretched beyond his line of vision, and Keith couldn’t make the climb carrying a baby.

He also couldn’t leave the baby down here by itself. Any predator or stranger could stumble upon them, and they were as helpless as living beings come.

“I guess we need to make camp,” Keith conceded.

First he removed most of his armor. He took out his portable inflatable sleeping mat and expanded it, placing the baby gently onto it. He set up a hammock with his tarp about seven feet above the ground level, and used his jet pack to jump up with the sleeping mat into the makeshift hammock. It was just high enough for Keith to jump down with only a small amount of thrust from his pack.

Keith wished that he had baby food, but unfortunately he didn’t have anything except freeze dried provisions, and he didn’t know what was safe for Igni to ingest.

He tried his communication device again, but it was just static. He couldn’t access the castle’s database, or call for help.

Keith settled the baby on his chest carefully. They squirmed and then pressed their face square into Keith’s shoulder, nestling against the soft material of his undershirt.

  
  
  


***

  
  


Keith was awoken by a panicked scream. 

It had been building for a while, but the stimulus sound hadn’t quite reached the point of awakening him. However, when Keith heard the sound he sat ramrod straight, because it was familiar.

Peeking over the edge of the hammock, Keith felt his heart drop to his stomach. Two pirates were carrying a man between them. He was swinging from a pole, hogtied and bound. He was screaming profanities at his captors.

He would know that loud mouth anywhere.

“You have no idea who you’re messing with! I’m a motherfucking Paladin of Voltron, savior of the universe! If you hurt me there will be hell to pay. There will be riots! I have a very strong fan base!!!” 

Squishy heard the yelling and started to squirm restlessly, making Keith struggle for a few seconds about what to do. He couldn’t take out the pirates and leave the kid in the tree. They’d probably roll out and fall.

Instead, Keith wrapped a makeshift baby carrying pouch around his shoulder, securing the baby tightly to his back. He tucked a piece of his thigh armor into the pouch as well, propping the baby up and protecting their back. 

Falling into battle normally sent a thrill of excitement through him, but with the baby squirming and fussing against his back, he couldn’t help but feel fiercely protective and uneasy.

With a sigh and a prayer, he fell onto the targets.

The one closest to him didn’t have enough time to blink let alone react, his knife burying into its chest. It dropped the stick carrying Lance, who grunted in pain but very quickly realized that it was Keith who hopped down.

The other pirate turned, whipping out two pistols and aiming them at Lance and Keith. Their eyes flitted back and forth, assessing the two of them. Keith’s hand itched to toss the knife, but Lance was fairly defenseless right now. There was no guarantee that he would successfully dodge the shot.

When the pirate’s buggy eyes landed on Keith, and saw the swaddle attached to his back, one of his arms lowered, keeping only one gun trained on Lance.

“This doesn’t have to end bloody,” the pirate reasoned, holding his other hand up with the gun lowered to just next to Lance’s position. “Just give me the package and no one gets hurt.”

“I don’t have the package! I couldn’t find…” Keith began, but then he almost slapped himself.

There was only one thing of value in the cabin, and it was the squirming baby on his back.

Squishy was the package.

The pirate smirked as Keith came to his realization.

“It’s okay! You didn’t know, right? If you give us the child, you can walk away without any retaliation.”

A growl of protectiveness tore through Keith’s chest, some animal sound he didn’t realize he was capable of making. Both the pirate and Lance looked stunned and a little afraid.

“You’re not taking them,” Keith declared, “They aren’t going anywhere with you. I don’t know what you want with them, but you can’t have them.”

“What if I told you that the baby was a valuable species, and would be treated like a King where we are taking him?”

Without hesitation, Keith hissed, “I don’t believe you.”

The pirate grit it’s teeth, cocking the gun pointed at Lance. “Hand it over, or he dies.”

He doesn’t bargain with terrorists, or make deals with those threatening him. Keith doesn’t talk things out, he fights things out. This pirate couldn’t be kept on his word. Stiffening, Keith made a few careful calculations of risk, and finally dropped his Blade knife to the ground.

The pirate smiled as Keith approached him, but not before Keith kicked the knife towards Lance’s waiting hands.

He took the knife up in his tied up fists and clumsily jabbed at the pirate’s outstretched arm. It was a terrible stab, but it just needed to be hard enough to get him to drop the gun.

Once the gun dropped, Keith was on top of him, foot pressed tightly against the top of his chest, constricting his airway.

Lance had finally flipped the knife to cut himself out of his restraints, and he stood up, rubbing at his tender wrists. “That hurt you asshole.”

“We won’t be the only ones after that baby,” the pirate yelled, pinkish sweat breaking out on its neck. “Those jewels on its head are valuable. You can sell them and live the rest of your life on the profits. Wealthy families make jewelry out of them.”

A sickening feeling settled in his gut, and Keith slid the baby onto his front, clutching them closer and pressing his foot further against the pirate’s neck. “What happens to the baby when the jewels are removed?”

“Oh,” the pirate grinned, a yellowed, half-full smile. “The jewels are attached to their brains. If they’re removed, the baby usually suffers brain death or swelling. It’s almost always fatal.”

Feeling sick, Keith lifted his foot for a second and stomped down on the pirate’s chest, hearing a satisfying crunch of rib bones. His foot went back to press against its airway.

“If they’re so valuable, why didn’t the parents try to hide them?”

The pirate chuckled, tears forming in their eyes. “The parents were the ones that sold them to us!”

Before Keith could do anything else, Lance came up next to him and kneeled down, pressing the knife into the pirate’s chest silently. With a  _ thump  _ and a  _ pop _ the creature was still.

  
  


***

Once they had managed to get Keith’s stuff together, Lance enveloped Keith in a hug. It felt like Lance could really breathe for the first time since the lions went down.

“Holy shit, I’m so glad you’re okay! I was so worried… and there’s a baby!”

Lance was suddenly beaming, making faces over Keith’s shoulder.

“What should we name them?!” Lance said in motherese, voice lilting and teasing. He couldn’t help it! He loved babies! His sister recently had a daughter, and Lance was all over that child. They had free babysitting for life. 

Blushing down to the roots of his hair, Keith muttered, “I just named them Squishy for now.”

“Squishy,” Lance deadpanned, taking in Keith’s adorably red face with amusement. “You named the child Squishy?”

“What would you name a random child you found surrounded by dead bodies with light up crystals on their head!?”

Resisting the urge to give Keith a break, Lance muttered, “I don’t know, Lance?”

“I’m not naming a random baby after you, Lance.”

“They must have a name already,” Lance reasoned, brushing his fingers over the baby’s wispy hair. “Huh, baby? Do you have a name?”

Their crystals lit up blue again, and they grabbed onto Lance’s finger with a vice grip.

“Whoa,” Lance muttered, eyes widening. The crystals had flashed orange and red when Keith was fighting. Lance had assumed it was a trick of the light, or the suit being odd. “You’re incredible, aren’t you, baby?”

“Squishy,” Keith corrected, seeming mildly irritated. 

“Lance Junior, you mean?”

“Lance, I swear…”

“No, now you’ll confused them! You have to call them junior and me the first!”

Grimacing, Keith asked, “How about I call you Lance Senior?”

At that, Lance stopped dead, the wording washing over him. “You know what, Squishy it is. Until we figure out your name, you can be Squishy.”

The baby’s crystals flashed blue and purple and then stopped. They were gazing at Lance in wonder, and Lance couldn’t stop the swooping feeling in his stomach. Something locked in place, something that he couldn’t take back, and he found himself unable to remember what he was going to say, let alone vocalize it.

“Alright, we just have to get them back to base.”

“Easier said than done,” Keith muttered, “I haven’t been able to orient myself.”

“The pirate was taking me that way,” Lance said with a nervous chuckle, “So maybe the other way?”

“I guess it’s a good place to start.”

“What’s the worst that can happen?” Lance asked.

“We don’t have any food for them.”

Both of them paled, and the baby spit up cheerfully, oblivious to the situation. 

“Well, fuck.”

  
  


***

  
  


It had been six hours. Finally, the baby seemed to have caught onto the problem, because they were hiccuping and whimpering. Keith switched the baby to his front, shushing them and running his hands over their head. Lance was ahead of them, and Keith could see that his hands were shaking.

“Lance…”

“You know, I can handle a lot,” Lance muttered, turning around with tears in his eyes. “I’ve been shot, and stabbed, and brought back from the dead. I love you, and know you can handle a lot too. But… this baby is innocent, and small, and they need us to get our shit together right now, and we have NO IDEA where we’re going!”

Keith winced when the baby reacted to Lance’s frustration with a violent red flash that dimmed to yellow. They started fussing, wiggling around in the makeshift carrier.

“I’m going to try to orient us again,” Keith said tiredly, passing the baby off to Lance. “I’ll be right back down.”

When Lance took the baby, he immediately stopped shaking, cooing at them happily. Lance was always around babies, and loved them to pieces. For some reason, holding another human life calmed Lance more than anything else.

Except maybe really good sex. That also calmed Lance down, Keith thought with a smirk. 

When he got to the top of the tree, he looked around. The sky was a dark, milky grey. The atmosphere was too thick to allow starlight through, but Keith could swear he saw…

...lights. Ships that were haphazardly thrown together and covered in weapons.

“Pirates,” Keith cursed as a few ships were soaring towards Keith.

Panicking, Keith wondered if they could possibly see him, but he knew he was well hidden in the canopy. However, his eyes were drawn to the wildly fluctuating red and blue lights that flashed through the trees.

“Lance!” Keith yelled, but it was too late. They’d locked onto their location.

Keith tried to climb down, but he kept losing his footing in his haste. The whirring sound of engines approaching mounted panic further, and finally Keith just said “fuck it.”

He jumped.

His jet pack caught him enough to avoid breaking anything, but his fall was far from gentle. Lance looked up and saw the same horrifying sight.

Pirates were descending upon them from rope ladders and with their own jetpacks. There were at least ten of them.

“We can’t fight them all,” Keith whispered, “Not with Squishy.”

“If we lose, they’ll kill Squishy,” Lance reminded him. He tucked the baby into the carrier on Keith and took a stance protectively in front of his lover 

to block the baby from view.

The two of them launched their bayards, standing in much tighter formation than they usually would.

They were surrounded in seconds, Keith feeling like he was doused in cold water. Fear like never before overtook him. It wasn’t fear for himself, it was fear for Lance, for the baby strapped to him.

The supposed leader stepped forward, his three eyes trained very carefully on Lance’s face. “You two have something that belongs to me. I bought and paid for that valuable asset. You should hand them over before this gets violent.”

“You should understand that we’re paladins of Voltron,” Keith growled, and that was when the first shot was fired.

Lance’s shield went up immediately, and Keith’s followed suit, blocking the baby from harm’s way. The two of them exchanged a look, and then tossed their weapons in the air. Keith caught Lance’s rifle, and Lance caught Keith’s sword. They both nodded, and then launched into battle.

It was a losing game from the start. They were backed up against a tree in no time, and though Lance had managed to slash his way through several pirates, Keith couldn’t get a good aim with only one hand to balance the shot. Lance had cuts on his forearms from close combat, and Keith had to completely duck behind the shield in order to cover the baby completely with his body.

Then, with a snap, Lance was sent flying, leaving Keith and the baby defenseless. Then there was a searing pain against his temple, and he blacked out.

  
  


***

  
  


Everything was fuzzy. There were voices, though, like Lance’s groans and shouts from somewhere nearby. The captain was discussing something with his other pirates.

“We should just behead the asset now. It’ll be a lot easier to carry a smaller sample back to the ship.”

“Sir, the jewels are worth more when preserved from a live host.”

“I’m not having Voltron follow us to get the baby back. It’s not worth the trouble.”

Keith felt panic rise like bile in his throat. “No,” his voice was hoarse, and he could barely see, but he could hear the voices. There was a singing of a blade being drawn, and Keith’s vision focused enough to see the captain raised his blade over Squishy. The baby was barely visible, but their bright, flashing yellows and reds were like a beacon through the haze.

So, Keith did something reckless.

He activated his jet pack and went rocketing across the clearing like a shot, managing to block the blade with his body as it slashed down to the baby.

It wasn’t the worst pain Keith ever felt, but it caused him to white out for a minute, sounds starting to echo strangely. Someone was trying to get him off the baby, but he covered them completely with his body, roaring with inhuman rage as the hands tried to pry him away.

It took him a little while before the ringing in his ears registered that the hands trying to lift him were actually Shiro and Hunk. Even then, he thrashed when he was seperated from the baby, and started crying. “No, they’re going to kill them! Please…”

“Keith, hey,” Hunk shushed him as Shiro rushed over to pick up the squirming child. “It’s okay. We scared the rest of the pirates off. You’re bleeding really bad though, and we think you have a concussion, so we need to get you to a healing pod as soon as possible.”

“Lance?” Keith croaked, starting to feel himself slip again.

“He’s okay, just a couple of laser shots. They cauterize themselves so he’ll be fine.”

Nodding, dazedly, Keith drifted off to sleep.

  
  


***

  
  


Lance stared in the healing pod, forehead resting against the glass. Keith was suspended and looked peaceful, but Lance knew that there was a lot of damage internally to his head.

Allura said that the people that contracted them were searching for answers, trying to figure out a way to get the baby off the planet and away from the pirate’s reach.

They were going to try to find their parents, and them some adoptive parents to take Squishy far away from here.

When they realized that the lions were deactivated, they launched local ships that didn’t require quintessence to scout for them. In their movement, they saw the pirate ships descend on flashing lights in the dark.

It left a hollow feeling in his chest, but Lance just stood vigil in front of Keith’s pod, fingers spread wide on the glass.

“Come back to me, baby,” Lance whispered, just as the pod opened up and spilled Keith into his arms.

“Lance? Are we okay? Is the baby okay?”

Sniffling, Lance smiled. “Yeah, you’re all healed up.”

“How about you? Are you alright?”

Smiling, Lance pressed a kiss to Keith’s sweaty head. “I wasn’t too bad off. Only took me an hour.”

Sighing in relief, they sat there in suspended animation for a few seconds before Keith whispered, “Can I go see them?”

  
  


***

  
  


Keith was sitting in Squishy’s room, leaning over the edge of the crib and gazing in wonder at the baby. Somehow, despite the ridiculous circumstances, they had found Lance, and had made it back safely. 

“You’re a bad-ass motherfucker,” Keith whispered, before he bit his tongue and corrected it to: “You’re a kick-butt futhermocker.”

Squishy squealed at that. The gems on the crown of their head lit up in interest, casting a blue-green light in the dim room. It reflected against the mobile that Pidge had Macgyvered from laser cut plastic and utility wire. It hung like stars above the crib.

Keith flipped the switch to “on” so the little lights reflected off the shining surfaces.

Squishy’s face went slack in wonder at the sight. Their little feet kicked at their blankets, which Keith dutifully fixed so that they were properly swaddled.

The door opened, and Keith instinctually tensed and pulled out his knife, positioning himself between the entrance and the crib. However, it was just Allura, who was assessing his stance with mute interest.

Her silver hair was braided and she brushed it behind her back, shifting her weight. “They found the child’s parents.”

White hot rage seared through Keith. The heat of the emotion made him viscerally growl, and he wanted to march off and murder them but also felt this undeniable tug to stay next to Squishy, to keep them safe. They hadn’t been out of his sight except for when Keith was in the healing pod, and he’d been panicked until he got back to the Igni.

“I’ll stay here with them,” Allura assured him, correctly interpreting his hesitation. Even then, Keith looked back at the baby and saw them kick off the blankets again, taking their left foot into their mouth.

Instinctively, he came back over and fixed it again, brushing his fingers through the child’s translucent hair.

“Keith?”

Catching himself, Keith stood up straight, taking a steadying breath as he turned away from the crib. 

Allura touched his arm sympathetically. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on them.”

As he walked out the door and towards the cells, farther and farther from Squishy, his separation anxiety was completely overrun by his rage. It was still baffling to him. How could their parents treat them like an object, something to barter off or trade? What kind of being arranges for their child to be sold to  _ pirates _ !?

When Keith neared the holding cells, however, he became quickly aware of the fact that there was something wrong. There were shouts, and he could hear Shiro’s voice try to reign someone in, and as Keith stepped into the doorway he was stunned with the sight in front of him.

There were two Igni dressed in ragged clothes that were both handcuffed to their interrogation chairs beyond the two-way glass, and one of them looked like the skin around their eyes were turning a nasty shade of green.

What was the most alarming, however, was Hunk holding Lance back in an armlock, both feet braced against the floor as Lance, one of the most calm and goofy people in existence, roared in indignation. Lance’s knuckles were bloody and quickly bruising, and his face was purple from screaming.

“Hunk, get the fuck off of me. Let me go!” 

There were tears brimming in Lance’s eyes, an electric blue so bright that Keith could swear he saw sparks ignite. Shiro was standing in front of the door, looking grim and completely unprepared to handle the situation.

“Lance, calm down. You completely lost your head in there. We can’t let you back in.”

“They deserve so much worse than just me punching them! They are cruel and heartless. I can’t just let them get away with this!”

“No one is arguing with you Lance…”

“Then let me go so I can show them just how wrong they are. They’re the scum of the galaxy, Shiro. You should have seen the look in their eyes when I told them their child was safe! They are worse than the Galra, worse than Zarkon…”

Keith finally stepped forward. All of his violent rage had distilled down to a smoulder in the center of his chest, still burning but controlled and managed. When Shiro and Hunk looked over and saw Keith, they both looked relieved. 

“Keith, help us out here,” Shiro pleaded, staying firm in front of the door. 

Lance heard Keith’s name and his wild eyes rested on his boyfriend. For a brief second, Keith felt the surge of emotional turmoil that was boiling inside of Lance, and it terrified him. As Keith approached Lance, his arms immediately wrenched him from Hunk’s grasp and enveloped him in a hug.

It only took a few moments for Lance’s tense body to slacken, for his vicious buzzing to turn into wet sobs. Hunk took a step back and put his hands up, nodding to Keith in recognition that he would take care of this. Shiro didn’t give up as easily, still standing in front of the door.

However, Keith was more focused on the man in his arms. Lance was shaking like a leaf, and had buried his face into Keith’s neck. There were tears and probably some snot on the neck of his uniform, Keith thought distantly.

Instead of shying away in disgust, he held on tighter.

“Keith?” Shiro asked tentatively, and he turned just a fraction to meet Shiro’s eyes. Lance looked up just a fraction. His breathing was ragged, but they were both at attention now.

There was some unnamable emotion in Shiro’s expression, and Keith found it a bit unnerving. “What’s the status?”

“They’re pleading guilty,” Shiro explained. “They admitted to everything. They seem pretty unconcerned about the community service.”

Keith’s arms tightened on Lance.

“So we don’t need to go back in there?”

Shiro shook his head. “No. Everything is taken care of.”

“Good,” Keith spat, guiding Lance’s face to his to press a peck at his lips. “Why don’t we get you to bed?”

“No!” Lance seemed panicked now, “Where’s Lance Junior?”

The concern that Lance had mirrored Keith’s the second he had walked away from the baby, and so Keith brushed his thumb across Lance’s cheek. “Why don’t we go see them, yeah?”

He sighed in relief, loosening his tight grip on Keith’s shoulders and instead letting his hand snake into Keith’s. “I’d love that.”

As the two of them walked away, Keith just barely caught Shiro’s expression again, and he began to put the pieces together as to what Shiro’s face was telling him.

It was the same look that he was wearing when he saw Lance and Keith hold each other for the first time. The same look that he wore when he recognized that Keith had grown or changed. It signalled acknowledgement of a shift in dynamic.

The shift, Keith processed slowly, was starting to come together and make sense.

His hand tightened on Lance’s as they exited the room.

  
  


***

  
  


When Lance walked into the baby’s room and saw them snuggled up in Allura’s arms, fast asleep, all of the tension in his body left. His face filled with adoration and relief, and he moved quickly towards Squishy. Allura handed the baby over without hesitation, carefully placing them in Lance’s arms.

Immediately Lance’s eyes widened and his breathing evened. Without thinking about it, he started humming to the baby. It was some stupid nineties pop tune, one that only Lance would still listen to. Keith moved towards them and crowded into Lance’s space, the baby cradled between them. They didn’t even notice when Allura left.

“Their parents are horrible,” Lance said defiantly, “What monster would want to give away this angel?”

Something about the way Lance was making faces at Squishy tore at his insides. It was the same feeling he had when he kissed Lance the first time, or when he recognized Voltron as his family. It was the same emotion Shiro had when they left the cell area. 

“Lance,” his voice came out rough, and Lance’s head snapped up in alarm. 

“Are you okay?”

“I love you,” he whispered, because he didn’t know how to voice the other emotions that were whirling around in his head. 

Squishy’s crystals lit up pink. Keith found himself pressing a reassuring kiss to their head, breathing in their smell and trying to memorize it.

The two of them ended up falling asleep on the small sofa, Squishy curled up against Keith’s chest.

  
  


***

  
  


The next day Coran dug out an old Altean baby carrier, and Squishy spent the entire afternoon strapped to the front of Keith’s chest as he walked him around the castle.

“This is the red lion,” he said, pointing at the robot and using a softer, high pitched tone, “I used to pilot this one. Lance pilots it now, so it’s a really special one. It connects both of us.”

Squishy held up their fist in recognition, and then started chewing on it in earnest. Keith clucked his tongue and removed their hand from their mouth, wiping it with a loose towel and replacing the hand with a pacifier. The baby sucked on it once and seemed to grow complacent. 

His thighs were burning, but he barely even realized it. He was bouncing as he walked to keep up the rhythm that kept the baby calm. His hands kept going from playing with their feet to brushing across their head to point out other new and exciting things.

Hunk found him at one point and started wandering with Keith, even guiding them into his workshop.

“This is a laser printer that inscribes microscopic divots into memory chips,” Hunk said in motherese, pointing at a small microwave looking item. “This is a soldering iron…”

The two of them made it to Pidge’s side of the workshop, and she stopped what she was doing and came over, her face lighting up as she poked Squishy in the belly.

“How is the little squish doing today?”

“They’re good,” Keith reported enthusiastically. “They slept through almost the whole night, and they didn’t spit up their breakfast. Also, they absolutely love this pacifier that you stole, Pidge.”

“I didn’t steal it,” she defended, “I left some GAC behind at the vendor’s booth.”

“Yeah, sure,” Hunk hummed, cocking an eyebrow at Pidge’s eye twitch.

“Have you guys seen Lance? Allura called him for a meeting but he hasn’t contacted me since.”

“Oh,” Pidge tapped her chin thoughtfully, “I’m pretty sure some prospective adoptive parents were coming in today for an interview. Lance is probably with them.”

Something feral was uprooting Keith’s insides. His defenses went up, and he took a step back from the other two and automatically turned his body to keep the baby from the line of fire. Pidge and Hunk both held up their hands to prove that they weren’t a danger, and Keith was grateful. Even then, his instincts didn’t flag. Keith found himself pressing his nose to their hair, breathing in their soap and apple scent to calm him down.

“Keith, do you want to go talk to them? We can watch the squish…”

“No,” Keith’s world was getting tugged out from under him. All his worst fears were being presented. Why did everyone want to take the baby away from him? Why did they all want to pass them off, wipe their hands clean, and go on?

How could any of them go on the same after this? After everything had irreparably changed?

Instead of answering them when they started to question his outburst, he walked quickly away.

Yes, walked. Keith did an impressive power walk in an attempt not to jostle the baby. Surprisingly, no one followed him, and Squish just seemed to be taking in the world around them in wonder.

Was this what he was like, as a baby? He remembered snippets from Krolia’s memories. Ones of her holding him and calming him. Keith had come to accept that the past and the future will present themselves when they are relevant. He had seen what Krolia’s childhood home looked like, but Keith hadn’t seen anything about… this.

He froze in the hallway, hand coming up to rub the baby’s tummy.

_ This. _

This was his baby.

  
  


***

  
  


Lance was sitting at the table, somehow managing a neutral expression. Impressively, he had asked all of the questions calmly. What access to resources did they have? Would they be willing to move at the drop of a hat if there was a chance of danger? Where would the baby be staying? Would they have a family, a support system? Would there be a nearby hospital or doctor to keep up with the baby’s health?

When the smiling couple left, Lance, Allura, and Coran all sighed.

Coran bit his lip thoughtfully. “They live on a ranch in the middle of nowhere. If number zero ever had to have any emergency procedures or appointments, it could take them a few days just to get to civilization.”

Allura pounded her head with her clipboard, then looked at Lance with an inquiring cock of her eyebrow.

“You’ve been strangely cooperative throughout this whole thing,” she commented.

“Why wouldn’t I be? We’ve only interviewed a dozen options. We won’t find the perfect family overnight.”

“I think the princess was referring to the fact that you were participating so well. We expected you to throw a fuss.”

The comment dug at Lance, making him cringe. Did they think that low of him? That he would prioritize his own happiness over the wellbeing of a child he cared so much for? What kind of a man would he be if he let his own feelings get in the way?

“Lance,” the princess’ voice became soft as she placed her well-manicured hand on his forearm. “Why don’t we take a break? I have an idea I’d like to run past you.”

Just then they heard panicked voices coming over their communication links. Pidge and Hunk both saying that Keith had run off with the baby, and that he had seemed upset and panicked.

Without hesitating, Lance bolted from the room.

  
  


***

  
  


It wasn’t that hard to find them.

Strike that, it was hard to find Keith. Not because Keith was unpredictable, but because all the places they could be were so far apart from each other. He was running like a chicken with its head cut off all around the castleship until finally he reached the map room.

When he stepped in, his heart beat erratically inside of his chest. All his concerns and conflicted emotions melted into a puddle on the ground, and he stepped right over it.

Keith was holding onto Lance Jr’s hands, guiding the baby to touch at the holographic stars. Lance remembered every picnic date that they’d spent in this room, every time they made love. Lance remembered sitting in the center of the room, looking up at the map and guessing where the man that he loved might be.

He was right here, though, Lance thought with a quirk of his lip. 

Lance would never have to guess about finding him again.

The other man had noticed Lance’s entrance, and looked over guiltily. He shuffled his feet, running his hand through his mullet.

“I fucked up.”

Shaking his head, Lance came over and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips, and then a goofy one to his nose. Keith hissed in annoyance but when Lance checked his lips, Keith was smiling. 

“Why did you run?”

“I thought… I got so protective of them,” Keith whispered, voice cracking a bit as he smoothed Lance Jr’s hair back. “I’m being stupid, though. There are so many better people in the universe to take care of them. I was just being selfish.”

Lance’s heart broke at Keith’s expression of resignation. The two of them stood in silence. The only background noise was the buzzing from the projector, and Lance Jr’s giggle as they reached out a chubby fist towards him.

Automatically Lance unbuckled the carrier and swept them up in his arms. Lance blew raspberries into their tummy, and started speaking in a high pitch about all the stars above them.

It was so natural, Lance thought with a pang of longing. So right.

Keith and Lance’s eyes met, blue and violet connected over one surety.

They both marched through the hallways with purpose, and burst into the interview room. Allura and Coran looked shocked initially, but then Allura shuffled her papers and stood without missing a beat.

She reached out her hand. “Hello, how are you?”

“Well,” Lance played along, taking her hand in his and shaking firmly. “We’d like to apply to adopt this baby.”

  
  


***

  
  


Allura went up to check on them later in the evening, and found the baby happily playing with blocks. Lance was handing over blocks to use, and Keith was sorting through the box that they had picked up from a market. They looked up when she entered, both of them sitting up straight and losing the color in their faces.

“I’ve reviewed all the candidates,” she stated, watching their faces carefully. “After careful consideration of all the important aspects of keeping this baby safe and healthy, it has been determined that the most suited option were Lance McClain and Keith Kogane. Congratulations,” her voice was starting to burst at the seams with excitement, “you’re parents.”

Lance was the first to react, sweeping the baby up in his arms and spinning them jovially. The baby squealed and flailed a bit before Lance brought them down and placed their noses together. Keith was still sitting, the toys he was holding having fallen to the floor.

“Is this real?”

Lance and Allura made eye contact before addressing Keith again. “Well, not quite. The adoption won’t be finalized without a name.”

“I was thinking about that actually,” Lance said, looking over at Keith with a nervous, jittery energy. “You named them Squishy, which is honestly not a name. Also, Lance Jr. is going to get confusing, and I was mostly joking about it. What about… Lucian? ‘L’ from Lance, “uci” as a little nod to Squishy, and “an” as the end to both our last names.”

“That’s…” Keith muttered, wrinkling his nose, then he said it out loud. “Lucian. Luce, for short. How about that Luce, is that your name?”

Keith had his fingers tickling their tummy when it happened.

Suddenly, without warning, Luce’s crystal lit up in a blinding rainbow flash that turned off all of the lights in the room and just left them shining bright like a star in Lance’s arms. Lance and Keith were awestruck, suspended in this gorgeous moment.

“I think they like it,” Allura teased, hiding her grin. “I didn’t want to spoil that surprise for you. A naming for an Igni is a sacred right. It was probably why their parents never named them before. It solidifies a bond between parents.”

“Parents,” Keith whispered, looking at Lance with sudden fear that was kissed away immediately.

Both their crystals were racing, faces completely enraptured as they made eye contact. Allura quietly stepped out of the room when the lights flickered back on.

  
  


***

  
  


“I thought my vision wasn’t real,” whispered Keith, looking up at his mom. They were lounging in Luce’s room. Keith had only ever told his mom about the vision of Lance and him in the future with children. Unless it was vital to the mission, the visions on the whale were kept to himself.

“You didn’t even imagine adopting?” Krolia asked with amusement. “There are a lot of children in need of homes out there, Keith.”

Swallowing, Keith nodded. “This feels right. They feel like mine.”

“Galra claim and scent their young. They smell like yours to me, too.”

A single tear dripped down Keith’s face. “Want to hold your grandchild?”

Krolia’s face faltered, her eyes brightening. “Yes. I would love to, but I have a present first.”

From the pockets of her casual clothes she pulled out a small crystal, attacked to a small chain. She came forward and clipped it around their little wrist. Luce immediately put it in their mouth, but not before it started beating and fluttering like a heartbeat.

“Is that…”

The same crystal that hung on Lance’s and Keith’s necks, telling them the other was alive.

“You’re all connected now. It’ll take some concentration to learn how to distinguish the two of them, but they’ll always be with you.”

“Their heartbeat is so fast, like a hummingbird,” Keith whispered, touching his own crystal.

“Eventually,” Krolia smirked, “Your hearts will beat as one.”

“That seems a little unreasonable,” came an amused voice from the door. It belonged to a handsome cuban who didn’t take his eyes off the bracelet. “Keith and I can barely walk in tandem, and you expect his heart to sync up to two people? He isn’t a fan of conformity.”

Lance came over and kissed Luce’s head, then Keith’s. “We have a meeting in twenty.”

“I’ve got them,” Krolia cooed, lifting the baby up and tossing them up in the air alarmingly high. Keith and Lance both swore, and she caught Luce effortlessly. “Don’t worry so much.”

Lance and Keith grabbed hands as they left, Lance muttering “I’m going to have a heart attack if your mom babysits too much.”

“Hey,” Keith stopped and pressed Lance up against the wall. He wasn’t aggressive, his touch gentle enough to make Lance melt. “We have a kid.”

Lance’s smile was blindingly bright, his blue eyes swimming with happiness. “We do.”

Their smiles met, a kiss bursting with joy, as they walked off to build a better universe for their child. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> Comments make me so fucking happy! I don't get to write much in the way of soft and sweet, but I desperately needed this right now. I hope you guys enjoyed as well<3
> 
> If you like this, check out some of my other Voltron fics! I've got so many. Help yourself.


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